Endless Tomorrow
by iluvcampin
Summary: Saya wakes up from her long sleep only to find it to be what she never dreamed possible. Will she be able to create a happy tomorrow once more?
1. The Awakening

Hello everyone. This is actually my first attempt at writing a story, so please leave suggestions. Sorry it's so short, I'll upload next chap soon! Enjoy

OH! I do not own Blood+ nor its characters!

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Thirty years after Saya ended the war between Chiropterans and humans, she woke up from her deep slumber to be greeted by a middle aged man with brunette hair. She remembered fighting alongside him a long time ago and decided that she could trust him. Still groggy from her sleep, Saya managed to weakly call out Kai's name before falling into his arms.

By the time Saya woke up, it was nighttime and she found herself lying on a strangely familiar bed. Flashing images of herself being in this room appeared in her mind. However, she was never alone in any of these images. Outside at the doorway was Kai, but he looked much younger, and next to him was a small boy. Right behind the two, a large man with grey hair tied up in a small ponytail stood there with his arm stretched out toward Saya. He said something inaudible, but she was able to make out "we're family" from the movement of his lips. No matter how hard she thought and tried to put the faces together with names and memories, Saya just couldn't remember.

Outside her room, she heard someone having a conversation with Kai.

"How is she?" the other man asked.

"No good. She needs his blood to completely wake up," Kai answered.

"But we haven't heard any news about him yet. Who knows when he'll show up? You'll just have to jog her memories for the time being." He sounded impatient. Saya remembered hearing the other man's voice before, but couldn't remember who it could possibly belong to.

Just then a small girl with shoulder-length dark hair, similar to her own, and sad, blue eyes poked her head in through the door timidly upon hearing the men talk about Saya. Saya smiled at her, only to see the girl flinch and run away.

The pattering of her small feet stopped and Saya heard Kai's voice again and this time, much closer to her room. "Now now, Akemi, did you want to see your auntie that much? Why are you so scared?"

Soon after, the man knocked on the door and opened it. "Are you awake?" he asked.

"Yeah...You...you're Kai. Why do I know your name?" Saya questioned.

A look of hurt crossed his face before he forced a smile and said, "You'll remember soon enough. Until then, you should get some rest. I'll make you some food."

_Where am I and why does it feel so familiar? Did I know these people before I lost my memory? Why did Kai take me in so willingly?_

Questions kept entering Saya's head, but she couldn't think of an answer for any of them and only ended up getting a massive headache.

"All right food's rea-" Kai stopped as he saw Saya sprawled on the bed, fast asleep.

"Ok. We'll wait till tomorrow," he sighed before turning the lights off and going to his own bed.


	2. Memories

Ok, here's chapter 2. Suggestions are nice :D

Again, I do not own Blood+ nor any of its characters.

Enjoy!

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"Hurry up and get dressed Akemi. We don't want to be late for the sunrise," Kai's voice was heard shouting across the Omoro.

"All right Kai. I'm almost done," the child yelled back.

Soon after, the sounds of cooking stopped in the kitchen and Kai knocked on Saya's door.

"I've kept your old clothes in the closet, so you can change into whatever you want. We're going to help you get your memory back, so don't worry," Kai softly spoke through the crack in the door and walked away.

_These clothes…are mine?_ Saya thought as she rummaged through the closet.

As she pulled out a green button up shirt, a pair of running shoes fell to the floor. Suddenly, an image of a brown haired girl with slightly tanned skin laughing with her popped into her head.

_I know her. K…Ka…Kao…_as soon as the name began to piece together in Saya's head, she was interrupted by a soft knock on the door.

"Umm, auntie Saya, Kai says to hurry up," Akemi timidly called out and ran off as soon as she was sure Saya had heard her.

A slight smile crossed Saya's lips before she quickly put on her clothes and hurried out of her room. Kai pulled up in front of the pub with a minivan that time had worn down and covered the white coat with rust and dirt. Akemi cheerfully went into the backseat as Saya made her way to the passenger seat.

"Dad used to drive this car around. Remember?" Kai said while taking a quick glance over at Saya to make sure she was awake.

"Dad…" Saya mumbled as she tried to understand what Kai had said.

Right then Saya remembered a scene, from thirty years ago. She was holding the hand of the grey haired man from her previous vision, but his hand wasn't the same. It had developed claws and his skin felt like leather. A pool of blood formed around his body and the sight of it terrified her. However, she remembered that she didn't feel fear then. The hand was warm and reassuring, and she squeezed at it harder as drops of her own tears fell on their locked hands. Then she stabbed him with her own katana. Suddenly, the memory disappeared as Kai's voice broke in.

"He really did love you like his own daughter. Maybe more," he said.

During the ride, Kai continued to talk about their father and Riku and the time they shared together with Saya. She couldn't remember any of the stories he was telling her, but was relieved that she was once happy.

"Ok, we're here," Kai announced as he parked the car.

Saya stepped out of the car to see a beach and the sun rising from the horizon. _It's beautiful. So nostalgic,_ she thought.

"Nankurunaisa," Kai suddenly said. "Dad always said it, remember? It means live today, for the sake of tomorrow. You've gotta promise me something."

Confused, Saya turned her head to look at Kai, whose face was filled with sorrow and anger. "Promise you what?" she asked.

"That you won't forget that. Even after you regain your memory and learn about the world you woke up in," Kai replied with a pleading look in his face.

"Don't ever blame yourself for anything and never try to fight alone." Saya was at a loss for words and didn't reply.

"Kai, you think she's going to come home today? Akeno, I mean," Akemi asked, breaking the long silence.

"Yeah. Maybe today's the day," he responded solemnly.

Curious, Saya asked Kai, "Who is she? Akeno? Do I know her too?"

"Yeah, you know her. She's your other niece. Akemi's twin sister," Kai answered while checking Akemi for her reaction, who didn't remove her gaze from the rising sun.

Just then, a loud screech was heard from the car and the three whirled around to find a chiropteran sinking its claws into the aged vehicle.

"Damn, I left the gun in the car," Kai cursed while handing Akemi his cell phone.

"Call David for help and stay close to your aunt. I'm going to try and get my gun back," Kai instructed before making his way towards the car.

Saya tensed up and began trembling as she remembered killing chiropterans in her past. The memories continued to flash in front of her eyes until it finally stopped on a girl who looked exactly like her, but with long, waist length hair and blue eyes the same color as Akemi's. Saya started breaking out in cold sweat at the sight of her until a warm, small hand grasped her own. Looking down, Saya saw her niece with a reassuring smile and the least bit of fear in her eyes.

"Don't worry. Kai will take care of it and protect us," she assured.

The image faded and Saya turned to find that Kai had successfully recovered his weapon. He shot at the monster in the chest, and it began to cry out in agony. Slowly, the chiropteran's arms began to turn fleshy and its claws formed into fingernails. Eventually, the creature had fully transformed into a man and fell over in his own pool of blood.

Then, in the distance, they heard the cry of another chiropteran, and before they got the chance to analyze the situation, they were surrounded by the beasts. Before Kai could react, one of the chiropterans lunged towards Saya and Akemi with lips curled and claws curved to dig into their bodies.

Fear had overtaken Saya and kept her frozen in her position. When the creature's claws were inches away from her face, Saya saw a flash of black tackle it and send it flying to the side. Although she couldn't make out who the person standing in front of her was, she did notice that he had a large metal case strapped to his back and a blue ribbon holding his black hair in a ponytail.

Once her vision cleared, Saya saw who the man was and began to weep without understanding why. She knew him and had loved him, but cried more because she couldn't remember exactly who he was. Before she could call out to him, he had already disappeared into the crowd of chiropterans. Saya could only make out sounds of claws digging into flesh and guns firing bullets that penetrated the leathery skin, followed by the agonized screeches of the chiropterans.

Shortly after, a black SUV pulled into the area and a blond haired man dressed in a suit came out with a gun in his hand and joined in the fight. Silence took over once more as the last of the chiropterans fell to the floor with a pained wail.

The smoke finally cleared and Saya spotted the man with black hair approaching her. He took out a knife from his hand and Saya flinched as fear overtook her once more. However, there was no trace of a killing intent in his eyes, and he instead slit the palm of his own hand.

Suddenly, something inside Saya overtook her as her eyes turned crimson red and she grabbed the man's hand with her own. She felt every drop of his blood trickle down her throat and it made her feel warm and safe. Memories of her life before she fell into her long slumber returned to Saya's head every time she sucked in the blood.

She let go of his hand and hers dropped limply to her side as her eyes slowly faded back into the original chestnut brown color. Tears began to roll down her eyes as she cried out to him, "Haji."

"Welcome back, Saya," he said before embracing her in a warm and long awaited hug.

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Much longer, no? XD next chapter will explain everything for those who realized that some of this doesn't make any sense.


	3. Unfaltering Resolve

I do not own Blood+ nor any of its characters.

Slightly shorter, but I'm hoping it answers all of the questions from previous chapter. Leave comment if there's still anything confusing, and I'll see what I can do. Enjoy.

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The night after the chiropteran attack, everyone who had participated in the fight gathered back at the Omoro.

"Ok, Akemi's asleep now. Let's get started," Kai said while taking a seat on the table everyone was gathered around.

"All right then, first things first. Do you remember everything now?" the blond haired man asked.

"Yeah, I do now. But I'm sorry, you look very familiar but I don't remember you," Saya replied with a puzzled look on her face.

"Oh, right. I'm sorry I didn't introduce myself. We haven't met, but you did know my father," he apologized, and stretched out his arm, "I'm David."

"Saya. Your parents helped out a lot back then. A lot's changed while I was asleep," Saya said while returning the handshake.

"Yeah," he answered as his expression suddenly twisted into that of sorrow and agony, "a lot has changed."

The sudden change in the atmosphere confused Saya and she looked up at Kai for an answer, but he seemed to share the same expression.

He soon snapped out from his thoughts and faced Saya. "Saya, we're going to tell you everything that's happened while you were away. Starting with the beginning of it all."

"Beginning of what?" she asked, almost too worried to find out, judging by the expressions on both Kai's and David's faces.

"Two years ago, Akeno was taken from us," Kai whispered after glancing towards Akemi's room. "Cinq Fleches is still around and the CEO of it is a man named Von Argeno. The real Von Argeno has been locked up and is believed to have died in prison. This man must be a relative or someone of close relations to take up his name and company."

"We have intel suggesting that they've been producing chiropterans with prisoners sentenced to death. We all know the only way to produce chiropterans is through the blood of a queen chiropteran, so we're thoroughly convinced that they're the ones who took Akeno," David continued as Kai left to check on Akemi.

"Somehow, they've managed to make the chiropterans more obedient and intelligent and they've been trying to eliminate Akemi. We also found that her blood does not crystallize the blood of the chiropterans created by her sister, but changes them back into humans. Normally, when the mother of the queens receives the blood of either of her daughters, she is turned into a human. But, it seems that Akemi and Akeno are different in that their bloods behave this way between each other. So you can see why Cinq Fleche doesn't want Akemi around. If she manages to change a chiropteran into a human, the entire world will know about their secret experiments," he explained.

Saya understood how grave the situation was getting and remembered the timid and frightened look in Akemi's eyes. _She shouldn't have to go through this_, Saya thought.

"We're trying everything we can to bring back Akeno, but we have no idea where they're keeping her. We've narrowed it down to three bases," David assured her after noticing the worried look on Saya's face, "It's only a matter of time before we find her."

"I understand. But what I don't understand is how Kai's and your guns were able to kill the chiropterans. They just turned into humans and died from one shot," Saya asked.

"Oh, well my mother, Julia, developed an anti-chiropteran weapon using the structure of Akemi's blood. Just this year, she successfully managed to copy its properties and integrate it with bullets. Unfortunately, chiropterans seem to lose blood much more quickly than humans, so by the time they are fully transformed into sane, independent humans, they die of bloodloss. No matter where we shoot them, they die once they turn human. The only way to save them, is by injecting the blood into their system, but you can imagine how hard it will be to even capture one and keep it still," David explained.

"Amazing. Julia-san still continues her researches after all these year," Saya exclaimed as she tried to imagine her, changed by the inevitable fate of time.

"No, she quit her researches ten years ago and just recently returned to the field after the incident," Kai interrupted the conversation, knowing David wouldn't want to continue it.

Confused, Saya looked over at David and noticed that his expression had once more turned sullen. "Incident? What incident?" she asked Kai.

The blond haired man excused himself and stepped outside of the pub as Kai started to explain to Saya.

Kai took a seat across from his adopted sister and took in a deep breath before starting. "Saya, David…the David you know from thirty years ago…he died in a chiropteran attack two years ago, right after Akeno went missing. Julia only returned to researching right after it happened."

"Oh, I see," Saya mumbled as she shifted her focus from Kai, to David, who stood outside.

"Saya," Haji spoke for the first time that night. He took a deep, long look at her face to make sure that she would not blame all of this on herself.

"It's not your fault, Saya," Kai broke in, "he died protecting his family. I'm sure he didn't regret anything." "The old geezer was getting too old anyways," he grumbled to himself, but Saya already understood that Kai was hurting as much as David.

Saya broke her gaze from the doorway and aimed it towards her loyal chevalier. Tears streamed down her face as she asked him, "Haji, what should I do? Did I make the right decision by allowing myself and Diva's children to continue living in this world?"

"Nankurunaisa," he simply replied.

The drop of tear teetering on the edge of her eye finally gave in and streamed down her cheek and was the last to fall. A slight smile that only Haji noticed, formed on Saya's wet face as she said, "Haji, you've changed. Thank you." The Haji who only knew how to obey every one of his queen's commands without question, had changed to express his own opinions for her. Saya's previous three years awake had changed him and it made her happy.

Moments later, David reentered the pub and Saya announced, "I've decided. I will once more end this war between man and chiropterans, for the sake of tomorrow."

Shocked by the sudden change in Saya's resolve upon entering, David couldn't help but smile at her devotion. "Ok then. I'll drop by tomorrow morning to take you to see mother. We have to see how your blood affects the blood of your nieces," he replied before turning on his heels to walk out once more. _Father, I can finally understand why you risked so much for the sake of protecting this girl. I will take up your will and protect her and her family with my life, _David thought to himself as he drove off into the night.

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aww, felt so sad writing this chapter...


	4. Preparations

Finally, chapter 4 is out! This took a bit longer because I wanted to take the suggestions and focus more on describing. Hope it improved.

This chapter, I also had a friend edit it for me...so, credits to toujoursavoir for the help!

I do not own Blood+ nor any of its characters.

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The next morning, Saya had managed some time to play catch with her niece before David arrived in the SUV. She opened the door to the passenger seat and literally had to jump to get inside.

"It's strange. I still find it difficult to believe that she's only a year older than me," David mused as he kept his gaze on Akemi happily skipping into the Omoro.

Just as Saya had managed to get comfortably seated in the leather seat, Haji had already shut the door to the back seat and placed his cello case next to his feet. The engine roared as David turned the key in the ignition and the car drove off, leaving a small cloud of dust behind.

For the entire duration of the thirty minute ride, Saya stared out the window to see how the world had changed around her while she was asleep. Many of the stores she remembered visiting often were gone and replaced by new ones and even some of the homes. The structures that were not torn down and replaced were either closed or threatening to collapse at any moment. _A lot has changed,_ Saya thought and soon after, thought about what had happened in the previous night. Her discovery of what the world had turned into in her absence was not anything close to what she had in mind, but at least she made it back in time to stop this from turning into an all out war again.

Saya snapped out of her thoughts as the car suddenly made a sharp right turn into a large Japanese style home.

"Sorry. I always forget where to turn until I get to it," David apologized as he released his foot from the gas pedal to steady the car.

The car slowed to a halt and the car fell silent. The three were greeted by a man dressed in a suit and were led to an empty room. Although confused, Saya trusted David and followed him in. Without warning, the wall to the right of the entrance started to slide, revealing a laboratory. Despite never having paid too much attention to scientific technology, she still noticed that it had also improved as time passed.

Amongst the bustle of people dressed in white lab coats, which surprisingly never seemed to change no matter how long she stayed asleep, she noticed a familiar face seated at the end of the lab hunched over a microscope. The glasses, the ponytail, the stoic look on her face when she focused on her work, everything about her remained the same except for the slight streaks of grey running down her light brown hair and wrinkles forming around her aged skin.

"Julia-san," Saya whispered to herself as she did notice something different in the doctor. She looked tired and worn down. If Julia had merely closed her eyes, Saya would have believed her to have passed away.

"Mother, she's here. Saya's here," David called out upon entering the lab.

Immediately, at the sound of Saya's name being spoken, the woman shot her head up and scanned the room for the source of the greeting. When her eyes landed on Saya, the latter noticed that there was no spark of hope remaining in her eyes. They were lifeless, without a single trace of the determination and passion that once lit them. However, Saya understood. Her husband had been taken from her, and her one and only son faced the possibility of meeting the same fate every day.

_She could still be happy. If only…if only I…_Saya's thoughts were cut short as Haji placed his bandaged hand over her shoulder with a worried look on his face. He had known her and loved her longer than anyone else, and knew what was racing through her head. The Chevalier simply shook his head and Saya understood.

Trying her utmost best to forget about the pitiful look in Julia's face, Saya forced a smile and simply greeted her as if she didn't notice anything wrong. "It's been a while Julia-san. I understand you need a sample of my blood to run some tests."

"Yeah, come over this way," the woman responded. Moving seemed to be a burden as she struggled out of her seat and slowly made her way over to a room. There, Saya saw a bed with white sheets and next to it, a tray of syringes and cotton swabs.

After an hour of waiting around in the manor, Saya noticed the wall slide open and Julia step out of the lab.

"After running multiple tests, I can safely say that Saya's blood does crystallize when mixed with Akeno's blood," she announced.

Saya didn't exactly know how to react to the news. By being able to crystallize Akeno's blood, she was still able to help in the battle against the chiropterans. At the same time, her blood was poison even to her nieces.

"That settles it then," David broke in. "Saya, you'll be joining us on our mission in China."

"China?" Saya blurted out in shock.

The man looked over at Saya for a moment, puzzled. "Kai didn't tell you?" he asked.

Confused, Saya looked up at Haji for any answers but only received an equally puzzled look followed by a shrug. Judging by the expressions on the two chiropterans' faces, David understood what the answer would be and led them to his office.

Upon entering, Saya noticed a thick, worn-down book resting on the center of the large oak table. She was barely able to make out the letters etched onto the book even despite the condition of the book, and read _Joel_.

"Joel's diary? Why do you have that?" Saya asked.

"I inherited it," David answered, solemnly, "from the last Joel."

"Then you mean," Saya couldn't bring herself to finish the sentence and David understood, simply nodding his head.

"Just last month actually," David informed her. "He was assassinated and we're guessing it was done by whoever is behind the chiropteran uprising. Guess they thought that getting rid of Joel would get rid of the Red Shield since he didn't have any descendents to inherit it."

"So then you're the new head of Red Shield?" Saya said, breaking the silence that lingered in the office.

The blond shook his head as he answered, "No. We want to keep our existence as secret as possible. It would be trouble if we were being targeted."

Saya nodded gravely in understanding and decided to drop the subject. "So this mission in China you were talking about. What is it?"

"Right. We narrowed down all of the locations of Cinq Fleches' research buildings to three locations based on its surroundings. The bases in China, Mexico, and Russia all have prisons located right next to them. And since we know that they're using prisoners to research on, there's a high chance we'll find Akeno in one of them," David explained. After briefing them, he told Saya and Haji that they had three days to prepare for the trip to Shanghai and that Kai and Akemi would also be coming along.

After an hour of planning their infiltration, the man in black who greeted them when they arrived drove Saya and Haji back to the Omoro.

"Welcome back," Akemi cheerfully called out as her aunt walked into the pub.

Saya remembered David's plan to take the small child with them on their mission and tried to mask her regret with a smile.

"What's wrong auntie Saya?" Akemi asked as she clearly did not fall for Saya's guise.

Kai, who had already figured out that David had told her everything, decided to interfere and sent Akemi to her room. "Your auntie's just tired from the long day. Why don't you go play in your room while we have a short talk?"

After much struggle and arguing, Akemi finally gave in to waiting in her room until Kai and Saya were done talking. They decided to take the conversation outside as they were afraid Akemi would hear.

"You know what the three days David gave us is for, don't you?" Kai started off and only received a puzzled look from Saya.

He let out a deep sigh before saying, "It's to tell Akemi everything. She already knows she's different from the other children, but she has no idea what really happened to her sister and the kind of situation she's in."

"But she's so young. I can fight, so why do we need to drag her into this?" Saya shot back.

Kai was taken aback for a moment and continued as he understood what she was thinking. "Because…it's because she can sense her sister's presence. And right now she doesn't feel anything. We don't know what happened to Akeno and she has a right to know." Saya saw the look of pain in his eyes and it was clear that he felt the same way as her.

Just then, the two heard a small yelp and turned around to see that Haji had caught Akemi listening in on their conversation through the doorway. Tears poured down her face as she screamed, "You're lying. Akeno's not dead."

Kai rushed over to calm her down as Saya could do nothing but helplessly look over at her niece apologetically. He then carried her to her room and came back out as soon as she had fallen asleep.

"We'll let her sleep for today and explain everything tomorrow, I guess," Kai said and headed over to his own room for some rest.

Not so long after Kai left, Saya retreated into her own room followed by Haji.

"Haji. What should I do? How do I tell her the truth?" she asked, half asleep.

"Trust yourself and have faith in your niece," the chevalier responded, although by then, Saya had already fallen asleep.

The next morning, Saya woke up to the sound of Kai pounding on her door.

"Saya, wake up!" he yelled, "Akemi's missing!"


	5. Chapter extra

Sorry for the false alarm if anyone got a notice and came here expecting a new chapter.

This is just to announce that I am still alive and am willing to finish this story someday soon.

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For the few who still want to continue reading.

Hello to fellow fans. I know it's been an extremely long time since I've last uploaded a chapter, and I honestly feel terrible about it. I guess I wasn't kidding when I put this story down for suspense. Anyways, the good news is here! I am really looking forward to continue writing as soon as summer begins, which is in three weeks.

To be honest, I actually got half of the next chapter down a very long time ago—probably a few months ago—but my laptop went and decided to burn out on me. To my misfortune, I never thought of having a backup storage, so I lost the file. But rest assured I am on the hunt for an external hard drive so that I can extract the files from my laptop's hard drive. Wish me luck.

As a side note, I will upload the new chapter on June 18th at the latest. This is just to set a deadline for myself to make sure that I don't put it off until next summer rolls around. I've also re-read the chapters I did upload, and realized that I need to work on improving my writing. So hopefully the next chapter will be much better in terms of content and quality.


	6. Worries and Hopes

I'm baaaack! Sorry for the long wait...to whoever is still reading this...I've failed in uploading this by the deadline I set for myself, BUT it is actually still the 18th in Samoa (according to my computer's clock).

It's summer and I have so much time on my hands that it's kind of depressing. To be honest, I've been pushing this chapter back for this past week, explaining why it's so short. In my defense, I forgot a lot of the details from the anime so I had to rewatch some episodes. But, who cares what I think, right? Here's the next chapter. I didn't get to have someone proofread this, so there will most likely be some typos and grammatical errors along the way.

I do not own Blood+ nor any of its characters.

* * *

Immediately, Saya jumped out of her bed and ran out of the Omoro without once stopping to make herself look a bit more presentable. The people staring at her walking down the streets shouting her niece's name were the last things on her list of concerns.

Saya's search was interrupted when she heard a familiar sound in the distance. She recognized it as a song she had heard countless times before and it was luring her in. As she drew closer to the source of the music, Saya realized that it was Diva's song. A jolt of fear momentarily coursed down her entire body as soon as she recognized the sound. However, she was able to regain her composure as she saw that the person singing only looked to be about five years old.

"Akemi!" Saya shouted as she made her way to her niece, who was perched on a swing in an empty playground.

The young chiropteran turned to face her aunt and decided to finish the song before greeting Saya.

"Where did you learn that song?" Saya asked, completely bewildered.

"I don't know. Whenever I feel sad, I sing it, and I feel like someone's here comforting me. Do you know this song too auntie Saya?"

"Yes. Your mother used to sing it often," there was a brief pause before Saya continued, "Akemi, we need to talk about last night."

Suddenly, Akemi's eyes clouded over as she realized that everything was true.

"So Akeno really is…" she couldn't bring herself to finish the question.

Saya understood and replied, "No sweetie. Your sister is probably still alive, but we need to find her. Some very bad people kidnapped her and are using her."

Akemi couldn't figure out how to express the whirlpool of emotions running through her when she was able to process what her aunt had just told her. Was she happy that her sister was still alive, or was she afraid that her sister was imprisoned and miserable?

"That's why I need to talk to you," Saya interrupted Akemi's current state of confusion.

Abandoning her attempt to decide on what emotions to express, Akemi looked up and asked, "Are you going to bring my sister back?"

The desperation in Akemi's deep, blue eyes twisted at Saya's heart. "We're going to try, but we need your help."

"My help?" Akemi blurted out, getting even more confused.

"Yes. You're a very important part of finding Akeno. Will you come back to the Omoro so we can talk about this with everyone else?"

Akemi shook her head and followed her aunt. After making a call to Kai about Akemi, Saya took her niece's hand and walked with her back to the restaurant.

As soon as the two arrived, they found Kai anxiously waiting at the door for their return. "Where've you been, Akemi? You had us worried sick," Kai said while hugging the child.

"I just needed some time to be alone and think. Auntie Saya told everything, so you don't have to hide anything from me anymore Kai," Akemi responded, later asking "But how do we find Akeno?"

"We're going to go to China first because it's the closest and see if we can find her there. But you have to promise me, Akemi, that you will do exactly what we tell you and that you will always have one of us with you to protect you," Kai sternly replied.

"Don't worry about me, Kai. We'll bring Akeno back for sure," Akemi cheerfully cried out and dashed over to her room to start packing.

"I don't think she understands how dangerous this trip is going to be," Kai sighed.

Saya smiled and pat her brother on the shoulder. "You weren't so sure of what you were getting yourself into when you followed me to Vietnam thirty years ago."

"That's true. Life was so much simpler back then," Kai said. "Well, I'm going to go tell David that we're set to leave in two days. Thanks for finding her."

Once Kai had left, Haji approached Saya and saw the smile fade from her face. "Saya" was all he had to say for her to understand that he was worried for her.

"Haji, I'm afraid for Akemi. What if something terrible happens to her? But at the same time, we can't leave her here," Saya reasoned.

"We will all protect her. Don't worry, Saya," the chevalier assured his queen.

"Thanks Haji."

_**-Two days later-**_

Saya woke up to David's call from outside the restaurant, "Let's go everyone!"

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Short, short, short! Next chapter will be set in China! I'm not Chinese (but I have taken a couple classes about China) so please excuse my inaccuracy. This is a fantasy world. Please don't yell at me for being ignorant of the Chinese culture.


	7. Trouble At Sea

Summer's over and I've decided to end it with a bang...by uploading a new chapter! Hope you enjoy!

I do not own any of the characters, except for Rick and his mother, who are purely my imagination :P

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The van came to a sudden halt and Saya looked out the window only to see something she had least expected.

"Look at that huge boat!" Akemi shouted.

"It's a boat alright," Saya mumbled to herself.

Kai tapped David on the shoulder and asked, "I thought we'd be taking a plane there. What's with the boat?"

"I'll explain everything once we're on board," David answered before stepping out of the car.

The four remaining passengers in the van followed suit and started to unload their bags from the trunk.

Saya looked over in the direction David had gone and noticed that he was talking to who she assumed to be the captain of the ship. She was about to resume unloading when she noticed something shining from his hand. Recognizing the blood-red shade of the crystallized chiropteran blood—a symbol of the Red Shield—embedded into the man's ring, Saya was able to release some of the tension that she felt when the van pulled over at the port.

David rejoined with the group moments later to inform them of the situation.

"In order to avoid suspicion, we're going to be heading to Shanghai on this cruise ship as tourists. That means that we will not be alone on this ship and that from here on out, we are to be cautious of the people around us at all times." David looked down at Akemi and added, "Akemi, you must be with at least one of us throughout the entire trip. I'm sorry to be treating you like this, but it's for your safety."

Akemi quickly apprehended the gravity of the situation and nodded. "I don't want to be alone anyways," the young girl said with a smile.

"You're more of a grown-up than any of us," Kai said cheerfully as he ruffled Akemi's hair.

"Okay then, it's settled. Let's go!" Kai cheered, taking the lead for the massive cruise ship.

David quickened his pace and caught up to the red-haired man. "Kai, I should answer your question now, since this might be the only time we can talk in private like this," David said as he matched Kai's pace.

Kai slowed down and motioned for the others to go ahead. "What's up?" he asked.

"Cinq Fleches is already suspicious of me, and Saya doesn't have any form of identification to get her onto a plane, so we have to travel with as little contact with strangers as possible. I've arranged to stay at the home of an acquaintance of mine located near the prison. We'll discuss the rest of our plans from there."

Saya and Akemi plopped down onto a bed right after they dropped their bags on the floor of the room they would occupy throughout the cruise.

"How long until we get to China?" Akemi asked Kai once he entered the room.

"Forever," he answered in his most serious tone.

"Forever?" Akemi gasped.

"Yup. We're gonna live on this boat forever and ever."

"Forever? I can't stay here forever!" a second voice chimed in. Everyone in the room turned towards the door to look for the source of the sudden outburst.

Kai spun around and looked down, noticing a thin boy with short, brown hair and matching brown eyes.

"Riku?" he mouthed, unable to remember how to speak.

"Who is it?" Saya asked as she walked towards the door. As soon as she saw the boy, Saya froze. "Is that…you…Riku?"

Confused, the child looked up at the two gawking at him and replied, "Riku? Why do all you Japanese people call me that? My name's Rick! How do you know my name anyways?"

The boy's American accent was enough to snap Kai from his daze. "I'm sorry Rick. I just had a younger brother who looked a lot like you and his name was Riku," Kai explained.

"Oh. Well that's just creepy. But I'm Rick, not Riku, so remember it," Rick said.

"Yeah I will. But where are your parents?" Kai asked while poking his head out the doorway to check for any sign of the boy's guardian.

"They're in the room two doors down from here. I just came out to check this place out, until I heard you say we'll be stuck here forever."

"It's two days."

"What?" Rick said as he and Kai simultaneously turned their heads to look over at David.

"The trip. It'll last two days," David answered, amused by the identical look on Kai and Rick's faces. "Are you sure you two aren't brothers?" he added.

"Of course not! This red headed guy looks nothing like me. And besides, he's too old to be my brother."

"Riku was never like this kid. He was more considerate and smart. This kid's so pompous and rude!" Kai shot back after hearing Rick's outburst.

"You're right. Kai's like an older brother to me. He's much too old to be your brother," David said as he watched the two trying to stare each other down. "Perhaps he's your father?"

"WHAT?" the two exploded in sync.

"How dare you call this man my father?"

"Yeah! You think I'm that old? It's been too long since I've given you a good beating. I'll show you what this old man can do to you!"

Kai and Rick pounced on David as the blond-haired man attempted to escape out of the room. Saya and Akemi burst into laughter as they watched the two grown men and the small boy wrestling each other on the floor.

"Richard M. Goldschmidt!" a woman shrieked from the doorway. "What are you doing rolling around on the floor like a mongrel? Have you no shame? Get up this instant young man!"

"Awww mother. I was just having some fun. You never let me have fun," Rick whined.

"This is not fun. This is…this is madness! You are a Goldschmidt and you had better behave like one!" the woman scolded her son. She had wavy, blond hair and reeked of expensive perfume. She looked over from her son to David and Kai still sitting on the floor and continued her high pitched, verbal attack. "And you two should also be ashamed. Grown men acting in such a way and corrupting my little boy. Come Richard, we will discuss this in our room."

As the woman turned to leave with her arms around Rick's shoulders, David got up and walked over to Rick and his mother. "Excuse me ma'am. Please forgive us for earlier. We thought your son would've enjoyed some light play. We didn't realize this sort of behavior would be inappropriate for him," David apologized to the woman in English. "Pardon me for asking but did you say you were a Goldschmidt? Does that mean that you are related to Joel Goldschmidt VI?"

"Run along back to your room, Richard. Mother will be back to check on you as soon as possible," the woman said as she motioned for her son to leave.

Once she made certain that Rick was back in the room, the woman turned over to David and answered, "Of course I'm a Goldschmidt. Why would I lie about something like that? Also, I did know Joel. He was my cousin. I have a question for you now. How are you related to Joel?"

"My father worked with him and, I was told, was a close friend of his," David replied.

"Your father and Joel were close friends? Is your name, by chance…David?" the woman asked as she inspected him.

"Yes. I was named after my late father."

"I knew your face looked familiar. You're the one who inherited almost all of Joel's belongings in his will!" the woman gasped, her eyes widening as she made the connection.

Saya closed the door behind her after taking Akemi inside and heard a loud smack ring throughout the room. Turning around, she noticed a bright red hand print on David's cheek, along with Mrs. Goldschmidt's violently shaking hand still in the air next to David's head.

"How dare you? You're not even a Goldschmidt! How could he give all that money to you? Considering you as his own nephew…What about my boy, Richard? He _is_ his nephew!"

"I'm sorry ma'am. He must've had a reason for what he did. I'm sure he cared deeply about his cousin. Aren't the Goldschmidt family known to only have one child? He must have been extremely happy to have a close relative besides his parents," David tried to reassure the woman trembling with rage.

"Don't speak to me that way! I don't need your sympathy. Your father was a brown nosing fool who got close to Joel to take his money, so stay away from my boy," Mrs. Goldschmidt shouted in rage before stomping off back to her room.

"You okay David?" Kai asked, worried by the last thing Mrs. Goldschmidt had said before storming out.

David turned around only to see that everyone was staring at him. "I'm fine. She doesn't know anything about Joel's work so it's understandable."

"I've known you your entire life, so I know you're not fine. Every time you get angry, you stuff your hands in your pocket. It's not gonna hide that shaky fist of yours, you know," Kai said, stopping David as he made to leave the room.

"I just need some time alone to think so I'll be in the room next door…thanks Kai," David said and left the room.

"Reminds you a lot of yourself, doesn't he?" Saya said after hearing the soft click from the door as David left the room.

Kai smiled, "Yeah. Probably a bit more calm though."

Akemi had fallen asleep in the room Saya had left her with Haji in, and Kai decided to watch some TV shows to pass the time.

'A lot sure has changed,' Saya thought as she stared at Kai, noticing the wrinkles forming on his face. She decided to stay and watch whatever was on to pass the time as well.

Saya drifted off to sleep and a good while seemed to pass when she was jolted awake by an ear-splitting scream. She looked over to Kai and knew that he must also have fallen asleep and just woken up from the noise. A few seconds after exchanging confused looks, the two heard a crash followed by gun shots through the wall. Haji immediately came out from the room, followed by a groggy Akemi.

They waited for another sound, but failed to hear any. Curious as to what had just happened, the four left the room and went toward the direction of the commotion they had heard.

"Hey David, did you hear that noise?" Kai asked as he went next door to David's room. Once he opened the door, he noticed a giant hole in the wall while the rest of the room was obscured by debris.

"David? Where are you?" Kai shouted.

"Kai? Is that you?" Kai heard a voice, but he noticed that it wasn't David's. It sounded too high, and…like a child's.

"Rick?" he called out, remembering the boy's voice. "Where are you?"

"We're over here! Help me, Kai."

"We? Who are you with?" Kai asked, trying to follow Rick's voice.

"I'm with David…and this monster. I'm scared."

'Why isn't David saying anything? What does he mean, monster?'

"Kai! What happened here?" Saya called out.

"I don't know. I can't see anything because of the debris."

Saya took a step to follow after her brother and was stopped by Haji. "Saya, please stay back for a moment," he said before taking his cello case from his back and stepping inside the room.

The chevalier took a step into the clouded room and swung the large, metal case, sweeping the debris away.

While Kai was struggling to find a window to try and ventilate the room, he suddenly felt a strong wind pass by. 'Haji, you sure are amazing,' Kai thought as the entire room was clear of debris. Scanning the room, Kai spotted Rick kneeling next to a chiropteran in the far corner of the room.

"Rick! Get away from that thing," Kai shouted as he struggled to maneuver around the clutter made from the wall scattered all over the room.

"I'm okay, Kai. It's dead. Please go help my mother," Rick pleaded, pointing to the hole, which led to the Goldschmidt family's room.

Saya noticed that it would be difficult for Kai to get through the debris and called out to him, "Kai! We'll get to Mrs. Goldschmidt through the door since the hallway isn't cluttered. It'll be faster that way, so you help Rick and David."

"Got it. Be careful, Saya. We don't know if there will be more of them," Kai warned before continuing to make his way to the corner where Rick and the chiropteran were.

Saya was the first to enter the Goldschmidt family's room and was able to spot the blond-haired woman fairly quickly by the smell of her perfume. Next to enter the room was Haji, who immediately went to searching for any signs of chiropterans in the room.

Noticing the pool of blood around Mrs. Goldschmidt, Saya rushed to the woman's aid. The wounds on the woman's stomach were clearly made by a chiropteran.

"Mrs. Goldschmidt!" Saya cried out as she placed her hands on the wound to stop the blood.

"Where's my boy? Where's my Richard?" the woman cried.

"Please don't speak too much. You'll only make it worse. Your son's safe, so please stop struggling so much."

"He's with that low-classed scum isn't he? Keep him away from my boy," Mrs. Goldschmidt seethed with rage.

Saya couldn't take it anymore. "That _scum_ happened to save your son's life. Also, Joel spent his entire life trying to stop monsters like the one that attacked you and gave his money away to someone who would continue his work."

Mrs. Goldschmidt had gone silent after Saya's outburst and scoffed. "Stop these monsters, you say? Continue Joel's work? Then what am I doing lying here, worried sick about my son and able to do nothing about it?" Tears started to roll down the woman's soft, white face.

"Please, if you stop struggling to talk so much, you could-"

"No. I know this is the end for me. My son has no family to go to. His father left us after Joel passed away." The woman paused for a moment and looked up at Saya. "Rick's never laughed like that when he was around me. I was too strict on him. Please…please take good care of him," she pleaded.

Not so long after she went quiet, Mrs. Goldschmidt went limp in Saya's arms and the last breath she took escaped her body.

"Of course. He's already like a brother to me and Kai," Saya whispered before laying the woman's body down.


End file.
